Fruitland Park leaders will vote on an advertised “tax increase” on Thursday.
The vote will take place in a meeting set for 6 p.m. at Fruitland Park Commission Chambers at City Hall at 506 W. Berckman St.
It has been advertised in legal notices as a “Notice of Proposed Tax Increase.”
This is not the first time it has been advertised to the public.
“The previous notice placed by the City of Fruitland Park has been determined by the Department of Revenue to be in violation of the law, necessitating this second notice,” the city confessed in 18-point type in its followup notice.
The city is required to advertise this to the public as an increase, because it is above the “roll back” tax rate, which is based upon the increase of property tax values over the previous year.
Fruitland Park has seen its taxable value rise by 64 percent after The Villages in 2013 bought the Pine Ridge Dairy property and added the Village of Pine Ridge and the Village of Pine Hills.
The Fruitland Park budget expenditures are up 8.6 percent over last year’s budget.
The vote on the budget comes at a time when Villagers living in Pine Ridge and Pine Hills have been asking questions about the layers of taxes, amenity fees and maintenance assessment they pay as Villagers living in Fruitland Park.
